United States or Jordan ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
But when Naomi came into the patio, looking so soft, so timid, so tired, yet so beautiful, so unlike his own painted beauties, with the light of the dawn on her open face, with her clear eyes and the sweet mouth of a child, his evil passions had all they could do not to go back to his former scheme. "So you wish to turn Muslima?" he said.
Turn Muslima, and you will be parted from your father for ever. He is a Jew, and will have no right to you any more. You will never, never see him again. He will be lost to you lost I say lost!" Habeebah, with two of the guard, came back to take Naomi to Ben Aboo. The poor girl was bewildered.
Naomi gave one dazed look around, and then cried in a voice of fear "No, no, no!" Ben Aboo glanced at Habeebah, and Habeebah fell upon Naomi with protests and remonstrances. "She said so," Habeebah cried. "'I will turn Muslima, she said. Yes, Sidi, she said so, I swear it!" "Did you say so?" asked Ben Aboo. "Yes," said Naomi faintly.
It was meant to win emancipation at the hands of her master, and paradise for her soul when she died. Naomi, who was a Jewess, was to turn Muslima. That was all. Then her troubles would end, and wondrous fortune would descend upon her, and her father who was in prison would be set free. Now, religion was nothing to Naomi; she hardly understood what it meant.
They told her in whispers that what she held as tragical was a very simple matter. "Turn Muslima," they pleaded, "and save yourself. You are too young to die. Resign yourself, for God's sake." But no answer came back to them where they were gathered in the darkness, save low sobs from inside the wall. At last Ben Aboo made two announcements.
Naomi's hopes of ever reaching her father were now faint, and her poor little stock of eggs and bread looked like folly to her new-born worldliness. "Very well," she said. "I will turn Muslima."
Then, tethering the beast in the open stables there, Habeebah took Naomi into her own little room and left her alone for some minutes, while she hastened to Ben Aboo in secret with her wondrous news. "Lord Basha," she said, "the beautiful Jewess Naomi, the daughter of Israel ben Oliel, will turn Muslima." "Where is she?" said Ben Aboo.
Word Of The Day